Day 15: Interpreting Scripture

In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm, and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words. In order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking and narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression." CCC 109-110

Today's reading is on the interpretation of Scripture within the Church. We find the basic principles by which this is done: 

• Interpret with "the content and unity of the whole Scripture" (Christ being the "center and heart") in mind; 
• do so with "the living Tradition of the whole Church"; 
• and "be attentive to the analogy of faith." 

These are all good principles to keep in mind. We know from Scripture in places like Matthew 4:1-11 & James 2:19 that even the fallen angels know and quote the Bible, perverted to their own selfish needs of course. I like how the Catechism lays out these principles as guideposts for approaching the written Word of God in our walk with His Logos. I know from my study of history and learning Spanish, for example, that caution is always warranted. For the former, history can be an alien world to us at times. There are customs, behaviors, manners of speech, etc. that are not as familiar today. The Scriptures, Old & New Testaments, were written over a 1,200 year period incorporating all the changes within that time, which in itself was nearly 2,000 years ago for us. When you consider language differences too (Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic), there is much to give us caution in interpreting them correctly, always keeping the Logos in mind.  I know that Spanish idioms differ from English for instance. How much greater do they differ in the case of Scripture, especially as interpreted into English? It's a challenge I'm sure for those gifted to do so.

All in all an interesting reading to ponder today. Tomorrow this will be expanded with the senses of Scripture!